How 24x7Fresh grocery is betting on morning service to differentiate from big players

“There is not a single e-grocery firm which is catering to the morning services. When we started our services in Gurgaon, the demand for milk, newspapers, eggs, bread were the major requirements, which were not available timely,” said Randhir Kumar, its chief executive.Avinder Batra | ETRetail | Updated: September 28, 2015, 15:33 IST

The recently launched online grocery service 24x7Fresh hopes to leverage its early starter advantage in the breakfast category to grow its customer base in the country.NEW DELHI: The recently launched online grocery service24x7Fresh hopes to leverage its early starter advantage in the breakfast category to grow its customer base in the country.

“There is not a single e-grocery firm which is catering to the morning services. When we started our services in Gurgaon, the demand for milk, newspapers, eggs, bread were the major requirements, which were not available timely,” said Randhir Kumar, its chief executive. “Our subscription based services provided them weekly or monthly delivery of items at their doorstep in the morning between 5:30 am to 8:30 am.”

The idea is to provide need-based services, which will help in growing the momentum of the business as the categories expand, Kumar said.

24x7Fresh, which has won the attention of venture capitalists, will launch a hyperlocal app on 28 November, similar to the ones of Gofers and PepperTap. “Once we make it a proven model, only then we would look for funds,” said Kumar.

After launching in Delhi-NCR, the company has also extended its breakfast menu services to Bengaluru, where it will start operations from September 30.

24x7Fresh makes a profile repository of individual consumers and is backed by robust data analytics capability which help it get insights into customer habits and plan inventory of perishable items accordingly. The egrocer has already opened 10 small warehouses in the region to cater to demand.

The Delhi-based company which plans to expand operations to 30 cities by the end of the fiscal, said its innovation-led strategy would be rewarding for consumers who can also place orders by phone. “We want to give customized experience to our customers and are also looking at reducing logistics-oriented issues by sourcing products from vicinity,” Kumar said.

According to business advisory firm Technopak, the online grocery segment is expected to see an eight-fold growth in next two years to anywhere between Rs 3,000-crores and Rs 4,000 crore.